A recent article on popular industry website Cellular News has highlighted the problems of battery life on smartphones. According to the author, the greatest limitation on smartphone performance is now their battery life. The contention is supported by other sources, which suggest that as smartphone performance increases, there will be a trade off with battery expectancy: Smartphones are “either going to drain their batteries at ever-increasing rates while continuing to get faster—or they’re going to maintain their current, not-great-but-acceptable battery life while sacrificing huge increases in speed. It won’t be possible to do both.”

A number of physical solutions have been proposed to help users overcome these limitations, but these typically require them to carry additional hardware. But it’s likely that few users will be prepared to add such devices to their burden – after all, smartphones are still supposed to be pocket devices and most users simply want the best experience without being encumbered by more devices. They want to use their device wherever they can, for whatever they want.

That’s why software solutions are so important. Solutions that can be deployed on smart devices to manage their performance and optimise battery life are becoming of critical importance – both to MNOs struggling to operate networks efficiently and to users who just want to enjoy a seamless experience throughout their day.

The GoS Networks Battery Optimiser solution is a significant step forward that enables smartphone battery consumption to be managed more effectively, extending its life and enhancing user experience. Independent tests have shown that the GoS solution can significantly extend device battery life expectancy by the efficient management of signalling in the RAN.

By deploying the GoS solution, MNOs can help their customers make the most of their smartphones and enjoy better performance – in the absence of real advancements of battery technology, this is a compelling means to help customers do more and obtain a better return for their investments.

MNOs that take steps to help customers resolve battery issues seamlessly and intelligently can enhance customer relationships and help differentiate their network offer.

A recent report from Juniper Research has identified significant opportunities in the growing mobile video and TV market. However, it also identifies major challenges, particularly for mobile operators. According to the research, MNOs “will face continued pressure on their network capacity whilst at the same time striving to attract revenue from video and TV usage”.

As the authors note, “some operators are able to leverage this opportunity through Wi-Fi offload and the services that they already offer via their triple-play bundles”. However, “other [MNOs] need to innovate and adjust their business models to the burgeoning OTT opportunity”.

In order to meet these challenges, there are two clear requirements. First, MNOs need to be able to manage offload to Wi-Fi networks in order to efficiently manage network resources and to meet consumer expectations of video playback and streaming quality. Secondly, MNOs must integrate offload and service assurance solutions into price plans and charging methods.

To efficiently meet the first requirement, MNOs should deploy ANDSF solutions that enable automatic network selection. But, they need to go further and extend ANDSF functionality directly to smart devices so that network selection can be optimised to the specific requirements of individual users. By distributing the ANDSF into smart devices, MNOs can more enable a richer user experience by selecting the optimum access network for specific applications.

Doing so will also enable MNOs to more effectively meet the second requirement. The distributed ANDSF can be fully integrated with the overall network policy architecture, enabling MNOs to manage and monetise consumption. With ANDSF enabled on smart devices, MNOs can implement policies that enable content to be delivered according to the network conditions and price plan of individual customers.

For example with the distributed ANDSF / PCEF solution from GoS Networks, they can automatically switch to the best available connection in real-time depending on the application. This means that they can immediately enhance or maintain the experience for those customers with premium plans or offer real-time upgrade options for those with data caps or basic packages. While MNOs may not necessarily offer content directly, with a distributed ANDSF solution, they can offer value to their customers and generate revenue from increased video and TV consumption.

Mobile network operators can do much to optimise services and conditions for their users. They have control of the network but there are limitations. MNOs cannot take action to manage conditions in user equipment. As smart devices have proliferated and as users have enthusiastically adopted more and more bandwidth intensive applications and services, the need to be able to manage user experience in devices has become increasingly pressing.

An additional complication comes from the fact that networks are increasingly heterogeneous. That is, in addition to the RAN technology deployed – UMTS, or, increasingly, LTE – complementary technologies such as WiFi are being deployed to increase coverage, provide backhaul and offload solutions.

MNOs are striving to provide the best experience for their customers. They want them to use the best technology for their applications and will be deploying solutions such as the ANDSF to manage handover and switching between different access networks.
But to do so intelligently requires detailed knowledge of what the user is doing – both in terms of active applications that require bandwidth and in terms of applications that consume resources in the background via automated updates and so on.

This means that MNOs have to take steps to obtain information on application demands and consumption from inside smart devices, so that they can efficiently manage network resources and connectivity to the most appropriate access solution. All of this must be managed in real-time: some applications – for example, video streaming – can have fluctuating demands, which need to be managed. MNOs need both to be able to monitor application requirements from devices in real-time and to be able to manage connectivity and resource consumption locally so that an optimised experience can be delivered, all of the time, taking into account the needs of other adjacent users.

One solution is to deploy specialised client software such as the GoS distributed ANDSF / PCEF in smart devices. GoS can both report to centralised platforms such as the PCRF and execute policy control functions, including handover to alternative access networks or managing excess signalling in order to ensure an optimised user experience.

It is only by extending their reach to smart devices that MNOs can overcome limitations to their network management capabilities. If they do not extend QoE and policy frameworks into smart devices, they will be unable to deliver the user experience required. Network performance and quality will be key differentiators in the future and there are already signs that users are churning to networks in the expectation and promise of better performance. MNOs have to take steps to ensure that they can really deliver on their promises and client-based solutions can help them to achieve this goal.